Production of textile materials



Patented May 3, 1938 UNITED STATES PRODUCTION OF TEXTILE MATERIALS HenryDreyfus, London, and Robert Wighton Moncrieif, Spondon, near Derby,England, assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation ofDelaware No Drawing. Application May 2t, 1936, Serial No. 81,912. InGreat Britain June 12, 1935 11 Claims.

This invention relates to the production of textile materials, and ismore particularly concerned with the production of highly twistedcellulose ester or ether yarns.

Textile yarns having a high degree of twist are valuable in that withtheir aid it is possible to produce fabrics of characteristic andpleasing appearance. In particular, when yarns having a sufficientdegree of twist are employed fabrics exhibiting the well known crepeeffects can be obtained. However in the case of cellulose acetate andother cellulose ester or ether yarns the insertion of a high degree oftwist very frequently effects such a great reduction in the strength ofthe yarn that the latter is of no commercial value. This is especiallythe case when the degree of twist is sufiicient to impart good crpingpower to the yarn.

It has now been found that the strength and 20 extensibility of highly.twisted cellulose acetate and other cellulose ester or ether yarns, andalso other types of yarns in the manufacture of crepe fabrics, and henceof the fabrics prepared therefrom, is maintained at a high level if theyarn is treated with an oily substance before at least par: of the crepetwist is applied thereto. For example, a cellulose acetate yarn of about100 denier may be twisted to 15 to turns or more per inch and thenimmersed in and thoroughly impregnated with olive oil, and thereaftertwisted to '70 or 75 turns. This high twist may thus be inserted whilemaintaining at a high level the strength of the yarns and fabricsproduced therefrom.

The oiling is particularly advantageous in the 'case of a yarncontaining a large number of filaments, for example 50, 75, or 100 ormore.

Advantageously the thread may have thereon at the time of twisting atleast of its weight of oil, for example 40 or or more, e. g. 60, orImproved results may be obtained with a lower proportion of oil, forexample 6%, 10% or 15%.

The oiling treatment maybe brought about with the aid of animal,vegetable, or other oils and oily substances, e. g. with olive oil,castor'oil, neats-foot oil, cocoanut oil, ground nut oil, whale oil, oroleic acid, or with higher fatty acid esters of glycerol and other diandpoly-hydric a1co-,

50 hols, especially glycerol mono-oleateand other vegetable and otheroils such for example as olive oil. The oily substance is permitted toremain in 55 the yarns throughout the twisting.

The application of the oily substance may be effected in any convenientmanner. For example a heavy coatingof the oily substance may be appliedand allowed to soak well into the material before twisting. Theseconditions are satisfied 5 by immersion of the yarn for several hours inthe oily substance. Thus, for example, the yarn wound on bobbins or thelike may be immersed for two hours or more in an'oil and excess liquidsubsequently removed by centrifuging or the like. 10

A method which enables the yarn to be wetted quickly and thoroughlyconsists in winding the yarn on to a perforated tube or bobbin (whichmay serve as the take-up device employed in twisting the yarn or may bewound with twisted yarn in a back-winding operation) and placing thepackage on a perforated tubular support which is supplied with aliquid'lubricant under pressure. The liquid is thus forced outwardlythrough the yarn on the package and rapidly per- 20 meates the wholepackage. The liquid may be applied to the package by alternate suctionand pressure to ensure complete impregnation of the package.

Among other methods of application mention may be made of theapplication of the oily substance to the travelling yarn, for example byspraying or by passing the yarn through baths of the liquid or overwicks, roller or other devices adapted to feed the liquid on to theyarn. 30

The oily substance may also be applied simultaneously with a twistingoperation, for example, cellulose acetate yarn may be twisted to about10 turns per inch on a machine of the type in which twist is applied asthe yarn is drawn from its package, the drawn off and twisted yarn beingpassed through-a body or spray of the desired oily substance on its wayto the rewinding device.

It may prove advantageous, especially when the oily substance is thick,to dilute it with a solvent therefor which exercises no solvent orsoftening action on the cellulose derivative of the yarn undertreatment. Choice of the solvent will depend on the lubricant and thecellulose derivative of the yarn. Mention may however be made ofhydrocarbons and ethers and like volatile liquids, as generally suitablefor this purpose. After application of thesolution of the oily substancethe solvent is evaporated. Where the oily substance is a solid orsemi-solid e. g. a fat or grease at ordi- 50 nary temperatures it may beapplied in a molten condition to the yarn.

The crepe twist-applied to the crepe threads may be applied in a singleoperation or it may be applied in two or more stages, the yarn being 55treated with the oily substance before twisting or between any two ofthe stages.

The degree of twist employed in the crepe threads may vary within widelimits and according to the nature of the yarn and the filamentscontained therein. The new process is particularly valuable wheninserting twists above about 50 turns per inch and especially above 60turns per inch, for'example when inserting about 65 to 75 turns perinch, e. g. '70 turns per inch in a yarn of 100 denier or 55 to 65 turnsper inch, e. g. 60 turns per inch, in a yarn of 150 denier. It may beused when inserting sufficient twist to impart good crping power, forexample '70 to 75 turns per inch when producing a thread of 165 finaldenier or 80-85 turns per inch when producing a thread of 115 denier.

Yarn composed of fine filaments, for example filaments of less than 1denier, e. g. filaments of 0.25 to 0.75 denier, is advantageouslytwisted by the new process. It will be appreciated that yarns composedof filaments of high initial tensile strength are advantageouslyemployed. In this connection reference may be made to yarns stretched inthe presence of steam (compare British Patent No. 438,584) or in thepresence of hot water (see for example British Patent No.

438,586). Yarns of fine filaments of high strength are very convenientlyproduced by such stretching operations.

Where the high twist is applied in two or more stages, the total twistmay be applied in equal or unequal stages. Thus, where the high twist isto be applied in two stages, one half of it may be applied in each, or arelatively small or a large proportion in the first stage and in thesecond stage the corresponding proportion required to give the desiredtotal twist. In general, if the tensile strength and extensibility ofthe yarn is to be well maintained not more than one third of the totaltwist and in any case not more than about 25-30 turns per inch should beinserted before an application of the oily body. Preferably anapplication of the oily body is made before twisting or while twist issmall, e. g. 5-10 turns per inch.

If desired any or all of the twist applied may be irregular in characteras described in U. S. Patent No. 2,061,614.

The twisting of the yarns may be effected in any convenient manner. Ithas been found advantageous, however, particularly when applying thesecond or subsequent stage of twist, to utilize twisting devices of thetype in which yarnis twisted as it is drawn off from a rotating package.If desired the twisting device may be provided with a device whichrestricts ballooning of the thread or the tendency of twist to run backto the package. As examples of such devices may be mentioned fiyers andthe floating ring device described in U. S. Patent No. 1,784,581.

Steaming, hot water and treatments for softening the substance of yarnduring twisting are not essential to the production of crepe yarns ofhigh quality in accordance with the present invention, indeed the oilysubstance may be the sole auxiliary agent applied to the yarn.

The highly twisted yarns may be incorporated into fabrics in anysuitable manner. For example the weft alone may be wholly or partiallycomposed of such yarns or both the warp and the weft or the warp alonemay contain them. The crepe threads may be disposed in the fabrics inany convenient manner, for example pairs of threads of left-hand twistmay alternate with pairs of threads of right-hand twist.

A further method of constructing the fabrics is to weave composite crepeyarns consisting of a yarn of high twist, doubled with a yarn of lowtwist or consisting of two yarns of high but opposite direction twist,the yarns being prepared' ticular value in connection with theproduction.

of highly twisted yarns from cellulose acetate filaments. Highly twistedyarns made from filaments of other cellulose esters or ethers such forexample as cellulose formate, cellulose propionate or cellulosebutyrate, or methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose or benzyl cellulose mayhowever be produced in an analogous manner. If desired, highly twistedyarns consisting of or comprising filaments of materials other than thecellulose esters and ethers may also be prepared in accordance with thepresent invention for example filaments or fibres of silk, cotton orartificial silk of the regenerated cellulose type. The yarns may also becomposed of filaments of two or more different kinds with respect tomaterial, denier, or both. Thus, yarns may be prepared containing bothfilaments of cellulose esters or ethers, and filaments of natural silkor regenerated cellulose artificial silk, or containing filaments ofcellulose esters of different acid value or containing cellulose esteror cellulose ether filaments of two or more different deniers.Furthermore, the yarns may consist wholly or in part of staple fibres,i. e. relatively short lengths of filaments.

Having described our invention what we desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

1; Process for the insertion of a high degree of twist in a textileyarn, which comprises applying at least part of the twist while the yarncarries as the sole auxiliary agent an amount of a non-drying oilysubstance equal to at least 6% of the weight of the yarn.

2. Process for the'insertion of a high degree of twist in a textile yarnoffilaments of an organic derivative of cellulose, which comprisesapplying at least part of the twist while the yarn carries as the soleauxiliary agent an amount of a non-drying oily substance equal to atleast 6% of theweight of the yarn.

3. Process for the insertion of a high degree of twist in a textile yarnof cellulose acetate filaments, which comprises applying at least partof the twist while the yarn carries as the sole auxiliary agent anamount of a non-drying oily substance equal to at least 6% of the weightof the yarn.

4. Process for the production of a highly twisted yarn of celluloseacetate filaments, which comprises applying as the sole auxiliary agentat least 6 per cent. of a non-drying oily substance to a yarn ofcellulose acetate filaments and thereafter inserting twist to a total ofat least 50 turns per inch.

5. Process for the production of a highly twisted yarn of celluloseacetate filaments, which comprises applying, as the sole auxiliaryagent, at least 10 per cent. of a non-drying oily substance .to a yarnof cellulose acetate filaments and thereafterinserting twist to a totalof at least 50 turns per inch.

6. Process for the production of a highly twisted yarn of celluloseacetate filaments, which comprises applying, as the sole auxiliaryagent,

at least per cent. of a non-drying oily glyceride of a higher fatty acidto a yarn of cellulose acetate filaments and thereafter inserting twistto a total of at least turns per inch.

7. Process for the production of a highly twisted yarn of celluloseacetate filaments, which comprises applying, as the sole auxiliaryagent, at least 10% of olive oil to a yarn of cellulose acetatefilaments and thereafter inserting twist to a 10 total of at least 50turns per inch.

8. Process for, the production of a highly twisted yarn of celluloseacetate filaments, which comprises applying, as the sole auxiliaryagent, at least 25 per cent. of a non-drying oily glyceride 5 of ahigher fatty acid to a yarn of cellulose acetate 20 to a yarn ofcellulose acetate filaments, as the sole auxiliary agent, at least 10per cent. of a nondrying oily substance and then inserting twist to aminimum total determined according to the denier of the thread, saidminimum being turns per inch for a thread of 150 denier and turns perinch for a thread of denier.

10. Process for the production of a highly twisted yarn of celluloseacetate filaments, which comprises applying, as the sole auxiliaryagent, at least 6 per cent. of a non-drying oily substance to a lowtwist yarn of cellulose acetate filaments and thereafter inserting in asingle stage twist to a total of at least 50 turns per inch.

11. Process for the production of a highly twisted yarn of celluloseacetate filaments, which comprises applying, as the sole auxiliaryagent, at least 10 per cent. of a non-drying oily glyceride of a higherfatty acid to a low twist yarn of cellulose acetate filaments andthereafter inserting in a single stage twist to a total of at least 50turns per inch.

HENRY DREYFUS. ROBERT WIGHTON MONCRIEFF.

